Almirola won the pole Saturday for the Camping World RV Sales 500 as rain washed out qualifying for Sunday’s race and the field was set by Friday’s first practice speeds.

The Richard Petty Motorsports driver posted the top speed at 202 mph in a car that Parrott had spearheaded the preparation for prior to his being suspended Thursday for violations of NASCAR’s substance-abuse policy.

“It certainly has had some impact for sure but for all weekends for something like that to happen, Talladega is a pretty easy one,” Almirola said after winning the pole.

“You just try to get your car on the ground and try not to let it rub the racetrack too much to kill the speed and you go drive it. … I think it talks a lot about how well our race team is well-rounded. We have a lot of guys at the shop that do a really good job with our cars and these cars were prepared several weeks ago.”

RPM competition director Sammy Johns is serving as interim crew chief this week while Parrott is suspended. Parrott is not expected to return before the end of the season. He must meet with a substance-abuse professional, who will diagnose him and determine what steps he must take to complete NASCAR’s “Road to Recovery” program. That typically takes at least six weeks.

Parrott is the first Cup crew chief suspended since NASCAR started random drug testing in 2009.

“We are working on a plan, and I am sure they will announce the plan next week as to our plans for the rest of the year moving forward,” Almirola said. “We just have to work through that and we will keep that internal until we are ready to announce it.

“We have sat down and talked about it and tried to come up with the best solution for what is best for us. … Todd Parrott is a good person and a good crew chief and a good friend of mine. I think he has a lot of support and a lot of people rallying behind him to get through this difficult time.”

Johns indicated that Parrott will remain with the team.

“That is really a HR matter that the organization is working through

right now,” Johns said Thursday. “We are confident in our solution for this weekend and giving Aric the best opportunity to win.

“We'll follow up with next steps after this weekend. We support Todd and his decision to enter Road to Recovery program.”

The 49-year-old Parrott won a Cup title in 1999 with Dale Jarrett and has 31 career Cup wins in nearly 20 years as a Cup crew chief.

“It was certainly unexpected and something that we weren’t excited about by any means,” Almirola said. “That was definitely something that caught us all off guard and something that we have had to just work with on a day-to-day basis.

“Every day has been just a little bit different and we are trying to work through it and do the best we can.”

Almirola had the fastest car in the short but wickedly fast drafting practice that drivers participated in Friday. Richard Childress Racing’s Jeff Burton was part of that draft and will start second. Almirola teammate Marcos Ambrose will start third.

Series points leader Matt Kenseth starts 12th, while Jimmie Johnson, second in the standings, starts 11th in the sixth race of the 10-race Chase for the Sprint Cup.

Although the starting order was set by practice speeds, who actually got in the race was set primarily by owner points with the final spots by the number of qualifying attempts. That left Penske Racing’s Sam Hornish Jr. as the odd man out among the 44 entries as Penske has run its third car only once this year.